


So It Was You

by bealovelylady



Series: Meant to Be (Soulmate AU) [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 07:14:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13899006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bealovelylady/pseuds/bealovelylady
Summary: Ushijima had imagined a lot of things about his soulmate, but he never saw him coming.





	So It Was You

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this based off a tumblr post about soulmates, where the first words you hear your soulmate say are written in your body. I’ve always thought that was a really fun idea, and I finally did it!

_Like swoosh, pow, and then bam!_

The words were bold, inked on his skin- no, branded. Ushijima tried to imagine how they’d be said, what kind of voice, what kind of person, what could they even be talking about?

When he was old enough to read, his parents had sat him down and explained the symbols on his left forearm to him.

“One day, Wakatoshi, you’ll meet your soulmate. You’ll know it’s them because they’ll say those words on your arm, and the words will disappear.”

It had taken him a lot of thinking and analyzing. He understood the concept now, but the words were still a complete mystery to him. He went through his whole life with his ears tuned in to hear those words.

There were a lot of ways Ushijima imagined this going. He imagined what the girl would look like, if her voice would be excited or sad, high pitched or a more medium range.

And one day, he finally heard them. It was during the middle of the Interhigh games, his team was making its way towards the gym, just as another team was exiting. The members looked worn, talking amongst themselves, moving slow but not dejected. And one voice rang out above the others, clear like a bell, excited. 

“-like swoosh, pow, and then bam!”

Ushijima stopped in his tracks.

There were many things he’d imagined about this moment, about who it would be saying those words. But as his head swiveled around, something heavy dropped in his stomach. 

He never expected it to be a boy, such a short one at that, with fiery orange hair, eyes bright and smile shining like the sun. He never imagined it to be another volleyball player, that he would hear the words in passing, from a rival team.

And he never expected there to be so many arm movements involved with the words.

He couldn’t help it. His feet had stopped, and his team member Tendou nearly slammed into his back. His eyes were stuck, glued to the small bundle of energy bouncing around across the walkway from him. He couldn’t help it when his mouth dropped open in a small gape either.

“What up with you, Wakatoshi-kun~” Tendou sang, skipping around him to face the taller teammate. His eyes widened and his grin grew at the look on Ushijima’s face. “Oh, ho, ho! What do we have here?” he asked with a loud laugh as he waved his hands in front of Ushijima’s face. 

And just for a moment, the world slowed to a near-halt for Ushijima. That red mop of hair swiveled, wide brown eyes met his, and his heart slammed to a halt as the boy threw him the widest smile. Ushijima almost wondered if his face didn’t hurt, but the thought was swept away instantly as his heart stuttered back to life, the boy turning back to talk to a far-less enthusiastic black haired boy, and Ushijima felt like he hadn’t inhaled air in ages. 

His heart pounded wildly in his chest. What was this?

A boy? That little pipsqueak?

That was his soulmate?

A mistake... it had to be. 

Ushijima was trying to convince himself of all of these things, but something caught his attention and made him stop.

The boy’s forearm was pale, white, unmarked. Which meant... he’d already spoken or met his soulmate. Which meant it wasn’t Ushijima, couldn’t be! His eyes dropped down like they were weighted to confirm the truth but all that stared back at him was his own empty forearm. 

The words he’d carried his whole life were gone. 

And so was his soulmate, leaving behind only that heart-stopping smile and an uneasy feeling growing in Ushijima’s stomach. 

Ushijima did not play his best that day, didn’t play his best for a long time. His team still won, because they were strong, but Ushijima wasn’t one of the major reasons for their wins anymore. 

Ushijima went home every night after practice, after a game, tried to sleep, tried to think of anything but that boy...

Anything.

But his mind was empty, wiped clean with that blinding smile, those wild eyes. He saw them when he closed his eyes, was afraid to touch himself anymore for fear of seeing them as he masturbated. He didn’t know what to do with himself, didn’t know how he was supposed to feel at all. 

In his head, it had always been a girl, always only a little shorter than him, smart and quiet, reserved with a hidden strength to match his own. But then came the boy, small, a tiny vocabulary filled with mostly sound effects, _loud_ , an obnoxious winner. 

Ushijima had tried to put it out of his mind for months, but one day the gnawing in his gut wouldn’t settle and he was frustrated, pent up, and he’d looked it up, looked up the team with the black and orange jerseys. 

Karasuno. And they practiced at a school close by, close enough for him to go and visit a home game, to sneak in with a ball cap pulled tight over his head, and watch. 

Number 10. He could spot him right away. He was loud and obnoxious, still waving his hands wildly, but then the game had started and Ushijima was in the perfect seat to watch how his face grew serious, so determined, his eyes flickering with an undying passion. 

And then he’d watched him jump, soar into the sky above the net, watched that raven haired boy toss to him and all he could remember was the jersey flapping in the wind, the loud _thwack_ of the ball as it hit the other side of the court, the moment of silence and then the deafening roar chanting his name.

Hinata. 

And Hinata smiled, beamed, high-fived all of his teammates, jumped into the arms of the smirking black haired boy he screamed at, “Kageyama!”

And Ushijima had to leave. He was in danger. 

He was so in danger of falling in love with that small, loud, wiry boy with a smile like the sun, eyes like the sun, hair like the sun. 

He’d looked directly into the sun and had gone blind. 

He’d gone home, had tossed and turned that night in his bed with a hard-on like no other, and when he’d given in to it, the name he sighed softly as he came was Hinata’s.

And Ushijima knew he was doomed.

x

It took a whole while longer until Ushijima saw Hinata again, in real life and not in his dreams, that is. And when he did, it was on the court, across from the boy on the other side of the net, and Ushijima realized just how small and loud and lively he actually was. 

And how much he didn’t care at all when he saw that smile, directed at him, beaming with all the confidence in the world like it wasn’t Goliath staring down David. And Ushijima felt it deep in his soul, that smile. 

He swallowed past the lump in his throat. 

He had to dig, dig deep for that game. He wanted to see that little shrimp try, try his hardest, reach for the stars. It was breathtaking to watch the jump from so close up and Ushijima almost forgot to jump himself. When the ball slammed into his palm, it was hot, hard, pushed against him, and he felt alive as brown eyes met with his over the net for a split second, and he actually smiled. Smiled at his opponent.

His soulmate.

After the game, after they had lined up, after they’d exited the gym and the locker room, he told his coach he’d be with them in a moment as the rest of his team walked on towards their bus. 

He heard him coming before Hinata walked through the exit doors. 

“Hinata,” he called in a low, deep voice, and the small pipsqueak fell silent and stopped. His teammates, who turned at his silence, were urged to walk on with a hand wave and a smile.

And then the small boy turned on his heel and that smile was aimed at only Ushijima. Ushijima felt his defenses crumble, his words fly out of his head, his speech gone. And all Hinata said was,

“Took you long enough, silly.”

Ushijima was speechless, probably gaping again, staring at this boy before him, who had come into his life like a rush of fresh wind and had left him with the impression of his smile burned into the back of his eye lids. And all Ushijima could think to utter was, “How long?”  
_How long have you known, how long have you known it was me? How long have you waited?_

Hinata just smiled, took a step closer.

“My team watched a video of one of your games at the beginning of my first year. You called out one of your teammates names.” He paused, then grinned widely. “I thought it was a totally different word written on my arm! I was so shocked when the letters disappeared off my arm!” He laughed so loud, tossed his head back and held his stomach like it was the best joke he’d ever heard, and Ushijima found himself smiling again, and all he could think proudly was, _Guess he’s not very smart either._

Hinata sobered quickly, wiping at his eyes, his smile a permanent fixture. “Your voice has been stuck in my head ever since.”

And Ushijima actually blushed, damn him.

“Me too,” was all he could manage, the words not even what he wanted to say, he didn’t want to tell Hinata that. 

Hinata’s smile faltered for a moment, his eyes going wide, and the way he looked up at Ushijima through copper eyelashes made him glad that he’d said it after all. 

And then Hinata grinned again, thrust his hand out. “My name’s Hinata Shouyo, nice to meet you, soulmate!”

Ushijima took the small hand in his large one, moving purely on instinct, and whispered. “Ushijima Wakatoshi.”

“Okay, Ushijima-senpai!” Hinata yelled in butchered English, beaming up at the taller male, hand still in Ushijima’s grip. Ushijima couldn’t find it in himself to let go of that small, warm, soft but calloused hand, wanted to hold it forever. 

“Hinata-kun,” he said quietly, reverently, letting the name roll over his tongue. 

Someone else called that name and Hinata turned his head so fast it was a wonder his neck didn’t snap, then back again to Ushijima. He squeezed the ace’s hand, let it linger for another moment before pulling it back. Ushijima missed the warmth immediately, but he let his own hand drop instead of chasing after the other’s. 

“I’ll see you around, then,” Hinata told him, softly like it was a secret, and Ushijima’s heart thrilled.

Hinata was already gone when he found the words to reply. “Yeah. See you.”

He didn’t want to think about how long it would be until he’d see that small shrimp again. 

Not long, it turned out, as Hinata showed up one day after Shiratorizawa’s practice, volleyball in hand, in a loose t and criminally short gym shorts, training bag slung over his shoulder and grin fixed in place.

“Wanna play together, Ushijima-san?”

**Author's Note:**

> Also, I didn’t ship Hinata and Ushijima but then I saw this beautiful art and I was like oops, this is a thing now. I loved it so much, that I already have a bunch of other fics planned around these two and will be starting a collection of shorts for them. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this :D


End file.
